LexBlog (LexBlog Australia)

Health authorities across Australia are investigating several Listeria infections. Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria officials are studying three different clusters. A brand of shredded chicken was revealed as the probable source of one nationwide Listeria outbreak. The product is used mainly by restaurants, cafes, and hospitals. Queensland Health officials identified M & J Chickens’...

The Global Online Safety Regulators Network (Network) issued a position statement on human rights and online safety regulation on September 13, 2023. The Network is intended to facilitate a coherent international approach to online safety regulation by enabling online safety regulators to share insights, experience, and best practices. The current Network members include: the eSafety...

The Online News Act has quickly emerged as one of the government’s biggest policy failures with Canadian news outlets facing lost traffic, lost revenues, and lost competition. The source of the Bill C-18 failure was the government’s seeming inability or unwillingness to game plan the potential outcomes of the law, rejecting criticisms and calls for...

The High Court of Australia’s decision in the Qantas outsourcing case[1] has been widely reported. But both the scope of the decision and the key takeaway have potentially been misunderstood. How do you (dis)prove a negative presumption about your reasons? The real issue in this case, as in most adverse action cases, was why Qantas...

Public health officials in an Australian state have warned people about a rise in Listeria infections. New South Wales (NSW) Health is reminding people who are immunocompromised, pregnant, or aged over 65 years old to avoid foods that can cause listeriosis. There are typically 20 to 30 cases of listeriosis reported each year in NSW. ...

The D&O Diary is on assignment in the Asia Pacific region this week, with a first stop in the beautiful Australian city of Sydney. Even though it was still Southern Hemisphere late winter/early spring while I was in Australia, the weather was beautiful and even summerlike. I was fortunate that my meeting schedule in Sydney...

Following amendments made by Safe Work Australia (SWA) to the model Work Health and Safety Act and the model Work Health and Safety Regulations (model WHS Regulations) in June 2022 (see our related blog articles here and here), the Commonwealth, and most States and Territories have implemented specific regulatory duties requiring persons conducting a business...

Stradford (a pseudonym) v Judge Vasta [2023] FCA 1020 (on the Federal Court website) Wigney J A novel matter in which the applicant was applicant was imprisoned for contempt in matrimonial proceeding in the Federal Circuit Court of Australia, for purported non-compliance with disclosure orders. He sued a judge of the Federal Circuit Court, the Commonwealth and the State of Queensland...

Police are investigating after three people died from suspected mushroom poisoning in Australia. Four people were taken to the hospital on July 30 after they became ill following a meal at a house in Leongatha, a town in the state of Victoria, the previous day. Two women, aged 66 and 70, died in the hospital...

Public adjuster George Quintero of Vanguard Public Adjusters sent me an article from Australia, ICA Reviews Use of Wear and Tear Exclusion. The article involved the denial of property insurance claims based on the “wear and tear” exclusion. The article stated, in part: The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) is reviewing findings from an inquiry...

The High Court of Australia will make available to the public a live stream of its special leave hearings from August 2023. The live stream will be accessible via the High Court website (https://www.hcourt.gov.au/cases/cases-av/sla-live-streaming). Conditions attaching to accessing the live stream are published on the live stream page. Audio-visual recordings of the special leave hearings...

On 17 July 2023, the European Commission published a draft Implementing Decision amending Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2016/2272 of 15 December 2016 on the equivalence of financial markets in Australia in accordance with the European Market Infrastructure Regulation. The draft Implementing Decision notes that since adopting Implementing Decision 2016/2272, an additional financial market...

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BTM1 v Scout Association of Australia New South Wales Branch (No.2) [2023] NSWSC 806 (on Caselaw). Garling J. Following a permanent stay order the defendant obtained an order for costs. The plaintiff sought to modify such an order on five grounds, summarised as follows: the plaintiff was within his rights to commence proceedings in this Court in...

On June 28, 2023, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security issued a press release reporting formal cooperation amongst the Five Eyes Intelligence Oversight and Review Council (“Five Eyes”) to expand enforcement of export controls.  Five Eyes—an intelligence alliance between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and United States—formalized its cooperation...

A July 2023 judgment by the Federal Court of Australia held that by reason of the definition of “Contract Works” in the Contractors Liability Policy, the contract works exclusion was not limited to those parts of the works owned by or in the possession of the insured because the natural and ordinary reading of the...

A previously recalled batch of poppy seeds in Australia has mistakenly been found in the supply chain and sickened at least one person. The Coles supermarket chain recalled Royal Fields poppy seeds from stores in November. However, it was recently informed a customer had fallen ill and identified that some seeds were bought from stores...

In May 2024 the Supreme Court of New South Wales and the Supreme Court of Tasmania will mark their bicentenaries as the oldest courts in Australia. These courts were created by the Third Charter of Justice promulgated at Westminster in October 1823. There are few courts in the world with an uninterrupted and independent existence...

Seyfarth recently hosted a webinar entitled Asia-Pacific Reductions in Force: Ten Things to Look Out for, addressing the practical issues employers should be aware of when restructuring in APAC. We shared examples across a variety of countries in the region, including Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the People’s Republic of China, Singapore,...

By Kathryn Weaver, Rachel Bernasconi, Yana Komsitsky and Leon Mao. Seyfarth Synopsis: Seyfarth recently hosted a webinar entitled Asia-Pacific Reductions in Force: Ten Things to Look Out for, addressing the practical issues employers should be aware of when restructuring in APAC. We shared examples across a variety of countries in the region, including Australia, Hong...

Dean v Pope [2023] HCA Trans 88 (on AUSTLII). Ada Lim & others have kindly drawn my attention to the recent special leave application arising from the NSW Court of Appeal decision of Dean v Pope [2022] NSWCA 260. The special leave issue that arose in this case was a question of the construction of...

A cruise ship employee, who describes himself as a music director of Royal Caribbean, was jailed in Australia for obtaining and accessing child abuse photographs and videos. Forty-four year-old Dana Moran reportedly came to the attention of Australian Border Force officers earlier this year when he flew into Brisbane International Airport. Following a baggage search,...

Governments around the world are considering how they can – and should – regulate the development and deployment of increasingly powerful and disruptive artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.  Australia is no exception.  On 1 June 2023, the Australian government announced the release of two papers intended to help ‘ensure the growth of artificial intelligence technologies (AI)...

How IPEF Builds On Prior Trade Relationships Negotiated By The Biden Administration: In May 2023, the Biden Administration announced the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF), a commitment to improving supply chains between the U.S., and the Indo-Pacific nations of Australia, Brunei, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea,...

Progress has been made on guidelines for remote audits but not on a food fraud text, according to reports from a recent Codex meeting. The Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems (CCFICS) met in May in Australia. The development of draft guidelines on the prevention and control of food fraud...

Today, some commentators have even argued that autonomous flight is likely to become a reality much earlier than autonomous driving. However, a distinct issue is the extent to which artificial intelligence (AI) may be used in autonomous flight.

The uncertainty in markets continues as a result of a number of issues, including monetary policy, supply chain challenges, labour market constraints, increased creditor activities and a balance sheet reckoning post-COVID-19 where government support propped up unworthy businesses. That potentially debilitating economic cocktail is compounded by the fact that all entities have a debt ceiling,...

Foreign entities wishing to register an Australian trademark should be aware that Australia is a ‘first-to-use’ jurisdiction. This means that the owner of a trademark is the first user of that trademark. First to File In some jurisdictions, the entity that is the first to file an application to register a particular trademark is the...

Companies entering external administration often have outstanding tax filings. The external controllers appointed conduct initial and ongoing reviews as to those filings. Then, in time, they either bring the filings up to date or engage the tax office in order to revisit historical filings. Aside from being legally required to address a company’s filings, external...

For those of you in the United States, I hope you enjoyed your long holiday weekend – the unofficial kickoff to summer. Our weekly Online Travel Update is below.  It’s been a few weeks since we featured a story on banks’ growing influence in travel, but this week’s Update includes stories on two large banks...